HUMBOLDT — The Humboldt Mohawks’ debut into a new conference demonstrated that this season will not be a nearly-flawless affair like last year.
At the Sept. 13 home game against the Martensville Royals, the final score was 28-14 in favour of the away team.
“We knew we're entering into a competitive conference,” said Cory Popoff, the team’s head coach. “Martensville’s got a great team, they got a lot of strong running backs and our adjustments came just a little bit too late.”
The coach said he’s considering the game more as a learning experience for the team rather than a loss.
It was Martensville that drew first blood at the under-the-lights night game, scoring a touchdown and a convert with 6:27 left on the clock in the first quarter. They then followed that up with another touchdown and a convert with a minute and a half left.
It was in the final minutes of the first half that the Mohawks would go on the board, with a touchdown by Cody Bergermann, followed by a convert.
In the second half, the Mohawks’ Dakota Hoffman-Ward would score another touchdown followed by a convert, but Martensville ended up scoring two more touchdowns and converts.
Popoff said offensively, the team’s timing was off and that they were having trouble with some of their linebackers, while defensively, the team adjusted well and were able to make some big plays to help the offense.
“I think our passing game was a lot stronger than our run game, but we're certainly going to work on our run game for the upcoming matches the season.”
Popoff said the team will be preparing for North Battlefords’ Jean Paul II next week.
“Our plan is just to look at our film and look at how we can improve and get better.”
